We Happy Few Preview (XboxOne)

introduction

We Happy Few is a game by indie developer Compulsion Games. I found out the term for this game. I was thinking FPS, but there's no S. No shooting at all in this game. At least at this alpha stage the game is in there isn't. So I found there is an FP genre of games. So We Happy Few is an FP suspense game. This game in the alpha stage right now. It's being tested by anyone who wants early access on Steam and anyone who wants to test it on Xbox One. At this point, it is not available on PlayStation 4. The thing is you have to purchase an unfinished game. There will be update and patches for those of you that purchased it, but for right now you're stuck with an unfinished game.

However, it's not all bad. You get to explore the open world. You get to figure out how to hide that you're not one of the drugged up townsfolk. You can also visit some of the shops and buildings. I actually found things out that will be occurring when I seriously play the full game. The white box testing is just making sure the game works as it is, opposed to it functioning as a full game.

The game is available as an alpha release on Xbox Live  and an early access game on Steam

Narrative

Now before I begin telling the story I must get on thing clear. This is an alpha version so Compulsion Games decided to put a disclaimer in the beginning before the title screen. The key points of the disclaimer state that the game doesn't have any of the three main stories of the three separate characters yet. Also, this version only has 50% of the content the final release will have. With that said here's the story.

You start as a man who pre-screens news articles. You decide whether or not they are to be put in the news or not. This town is censored by anything that is not good. After some time, your wife comes in to tell you to come to your child's birthday party. She also says you look odd. You should take your Joy. With that, she put the pill bottle on the table. This reminds me of the choice to take the red pill or blue pill in The Matrix Path of Neo game. The same result happens also. If you take the Joy pills the game ends and you back to the title screen. Same as choosing the blue pill in Path of Neo. So you choose to not take the Joy pills and throw them off your desk. There's only one path to choose. At the party you are hitting a piñata, that thing with the candy in it. Right away they realize you haven't taken your joy and you run. After a short chase, a cutscene occurs and you end up in your safe house.

You can sleep here for a time that you set before laying down. You have a safe where you can put things in there for later use. Supposedly there're other safe houses that share the safe. That's similar to Resident Evil where those boxes are always near a save and they are all shared throughout the game. There are some resources in the first safe house. After you pick up everything you can find, you're stuck. The door is jammed and the latch you access from the ladder is stuck. In your menu, you have to construct a lock pick with the scrap metal you found. It's as easy as a few clicks. Similar to combining herbs also found in Resident Evil. Then you can unlock other things that were not accessible and find a tool to open the latch via the ladder.

Gameplay

Once outside you'll see this is a living breathing city with cops and citizens walking around. You are supposed to be ale to access stores so you can buy supplies, but I couldn't find any. Maybe they didn't add that feature yet. There are other residential buildings you can enter. You can talk to everyone you see. Any bed you come across you can use to sleep. Everything you can do comes with an on-screen button prompt. There is a radar section on top of the screen. It pointed me towards a bridge that didn't work. A message on the control panel stated that the bridge operator left to get a power cell. Unfortunately, that's where I have to go according to the radar.

After you play for a while icons on the top of the screen will pop up. You have to regularly eat and drink. there are two separate notification icons when you are hungry or thirsty. You also get tired. There's a third icon for sleep. That can hinder the action you're doing. It does, however, add a new and different aspect to the game. The eating and drinking remind me of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. It was one of the first game to introduce eating among other things. There's one last icon I didn't mention. Since you're supposed to be on Joy pills, you can carry a weapon around. You can have it, you just can't hold it in your hand and walk around town with it out. Weapons at this point range from lead pipes to pointed sticks.

Graphics

For an alpha release, the graphics are damn good. I was surprised while playing on how detailed it actually looked. People look real but in an animated proportion. They walk around and you can interact with all of them. The shops you pass as you walk around are detailed with stuff in the window to purchase. Not every store will be accessible, but regardless the detail is there. When you pick things up they don't just vanish and end up in your inventory. Your hand actually grabs things and that's a nice touch.

At night there are much fewer people around. Usually, that's when the homeless looking people come out and build a fire in an abandoned house to stay warm. If you see a store with its lights on at night, that means it's accessible. However, at night many stores tend to be closed. During the day it's hard to see if it's light are on or not.

Final Thoughts

While the game has pristine graphics and amazing visuals overall, it's still an alpha release. With the limitations currently, the game needs to be finished. I will absolutely play it  more seriously when the updates come. I am not a fan of FPS games, however, this title has serious promise in this gamer's opinion.